Electrical illuminating apparatus



June, 9, 1931.

I... A. RAMSDEN ELECTRICAL ILLUMINATING APPARATUS Filed Jan. a. 1930 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 mvsmon June 9, 1931. L. A. RAMSDEN ELECTRICAL ILLUMINATING APPARATUS 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 8, 1930 June'9, 1931. A. RAMSDEN 1,809,

ELECTRICAL ILLUMINATING APPARATUS 4 Filed Jan. 8. 193 "r Sheets-Sheet s Fig.10.

INVE TOR June 9, 1931. V L. A. RAMS DEN ELECTRICAL ILLUMINATING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 8. 1930 '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR QG LS awa/wwdm. g M L June 9, 1931. L. A. RAMSDEN ,13

ELECTRICAL ILLUMINATiNG APPARATUS Filed Jan. 8, 1930 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR.

June 9, 1931. L. A. RAMS'DEN ELECTRiCAL ILLUMINATING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 8. 1 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 INVENTOR.

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Patented June 9 1931 v as? smea Louis nrmnnnnnivrsnnn, on .mnn'onnsrnn, ENGLAND ELECTRICAL ILLUMINATITTG APPARATUS Application filed. January 8, 193i Serial No. 419,444, and in Great Britain. January 16, 1929 v This invention relates to electrical apparatus for obtaining clear and/or coloured illuminating, effects for stage, scenic, advertising and other purposes from a series of 5 clear and/or various coloured electric incandescent lamps; p

According to the invention a plurality of multi-contact electric incandescent lamps have each'section of filament connected to 1' a controlling device by the operation of which all the section filaments of one lamp' or an equivalent number of section filaments taken from a plurality of lamps can be placed in circuit with means for varylng the specific sections of filament in the circuit. I r I r s p The mvjention consists further in providing means whereby a greater or less number of section filaments than those of one lamp or set of lamps can be brought into circuit to obtain dimming or brilliancy effects and also of means whereby the section filaments of one lamp or set of lamps or more than one lamp or set of lamps. can

" 25 be rapidly brought into and out of the circuit to obtain flashing effects. I The invention will be described; with reference to the accompanying draw1ngs:

' Fig. 1 is a diagrammatlc view of one form ofthe invent on inwhich the lighting eliects are controlled by a controller having an arm rotating over a number of fixed contacts electrically connected to the different filaments of the lamps or-parallel sets of lamps.

shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section of same.

. Fig. 4; is a diagrammatic view ofanother Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the controller Fig. 10 is an elevation "of the lamp holder.-

Fig. 11 is a plan of same. Fig. 12 is a transverse section of another form of multi-filament lamp and lamp holder for use with the invention.

' Fig. 13 is a section of same at right angle:

the invention the lamp ;.L is 'a clear lamp,

colours and for the" purpose of describing theqlamp L is coloured yellow, the lamp T L iscoloured redfand the lamp L is colfoured blue. Each lamp is formed with seven filaments each connected to the controller A in such a manner that one or more section filaments from each'lamp', to give a. total of seven in series. can be placed in circuit to vary the light efiect. "In such a combination it is p'ossibleto obtain. twenty four combinations of seven filaments and i'n addi-' tion dimming and flashing effectsmayjbe obtained. f I The four lamps L L L L are connected in series with each otherjby loop wires Z and where a furtherseries of, a similar number of lamps are employed these are connected in parallel with the preceding series. The controller A is provided with a number of terminal contacts a corresponding to the number of filament tappingpoints the same terminal contact being employed for the last tapping point in one lamp and the first in the-next since these are short circuited by the loop wires Z. In the example illustrated there are therefore twenty eight to filament tapping point.

' A rotary swltch C is'connected to the contact terminal with whichthe last conductor of the fourth" lamp or blue 'lam'p'is conf .nected to allow for inserting and outting out'the filament sections of the four lamps in rotation.' The terminal contacts a are arranged in the form of a circle, concentric with which are two continuous metal rings" A and A to which the positive and negative feeder wires a and a of the source of current supply B are attached.

Two current carrying con-tact arms A and A each carrying two contact makers or brushes a a one a making contact with ing effects.

the terminal. contacts a, the second on the arm A 'making contact with the positive ring A and the second on the arm A making contact with the negative ring A are arranged to traverse the terminal contacts a and are governed in positional relation to each other by an adjustable slider device A, which is permanently fitted to the arm A so that normally the arms move in unison the same angular distance apart, thus ensuringagainst any excess of current being applied to the lamps, but which will permit each arm to be'moved independently apart in order to obtain dimming or flash- The two arms A and A each carry a conductor a and w connecting the contacts thereon so that when the main switch at B is closed and the arms are in the position as indicated by the pointers Av and A current passes from the source ofsupply B- through the respective rings and through the respective contact makers a and a terminal contacts a of the controller A, conductors b and filament tappings 1 and 8 of the first or clear lamp, or paralleled s'etof lamps, thus the whole length of the filamentof the clear lamp or lamps is or I are directly in circuit with the source of current supply, and are operated at maximum efiiciency, the intermediate filament tappings 2, 8, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the clear lamp being open'circuited.

As the switch 0 is rotated, to obtain a merging effect the arms A and A move over the. contacts at and in the example chosen (see dotted position on Fig. 1) the current passes the contacts a on the controller through the appropriate conductor Z) to the tappings 2 and 2 of the lamps L and L the circuit being closed by the interven ing section filaments of both lamps. In this case six section filaments of the clear lamp and one section filament of the yellow lamp. By further rotation of the switch C in a clockwise direction the section filaments are successively cut out from the lamps L and lamp L L L are illuminated in turn the voltage across. any illuminated section filament being maintained constant.

If the arm A remains stationary and the arm A* is moved over the terminal contacts a as indicated by the dotted arm, the intermediate section filaments of the yellow lamp or lamps are interposed in sequence into the circuit, in addition to the section filaments of the clear lamp or lamps, or alternatively, the arm A? may be moved apart from the arm A traversing the contacts of the blue lamp or lamps or as a second alternative,

each arm may be moved apart as from a centre point, thereby interposing variable members of section filaments, exceeding those already" in circuit and so diminishing the light intensity or conversely cutting out some filaments to increase the light intensity. Flashing is effected by means of moving either arm apart from the other quickly.

Instead of employing a single independent conductor connecting the tappings of the lamp L L to the terminals a of the controller A it is preferred to employ a multi-core cable for each lamp, such multicore cable being formed with the requisite number of conductors for each lamp.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. at to 7 the combination cont-act and movement controller -D is designed to control a series of four lamps L L L L or a series of four lamps wired in parallel with the preceding four lamps.

The lamps L L L and L shown are clear, yellow, red and blue respectively as previously described. As shown'in the drawings there are thirty two controller terminals (Z one to each of all the section filament supports 6 of each lamp or parallel set of lamps, each tapping d being connected to a conductor wire 9 of a multiple. core cable or cables G, the other ends of the conductors g eing connected into their respective controller terminals (5 of a multiple terminal block D fitted on the side of a controller cover D The positive and negative feeder wires a and a are connected respectively into the end tappings e of the clear lamp L and e of the blue lamp L thus the current passes through all the section filaments of each lamp.

A loop conductor Z connects the end tappings d of the lamp L to the first of the lamp L similar loop conductors Z and Z connecting the end tappings (Z of the lamps L and L to the first of the lamps L and L respectively.

The current carrying conductors D formed from spring metal strips are permanently affixed at one end to their tappings d and at their other ends are in contact with the surface of a rotor D of non-conducting material. Ihe rotor D is dovetail slot-ted asshown to facilitate the fixing of the variable lengths of metal strips (Z (Z10, (Z and 0P the function of which is to short circuit various of the section filaments of the lamps .41, L L and L respectively. I V

For example when point 1 of the rotor D is in contact with the contact makers D contact is made with the corresponding metal strips 03 a3 (Z current therefore passes throughithe section filaments of the lamp L and along the strips short circuiting the lamps L L and L As the rotor D is rotated the section filaments of the lamp L are shortcircuited one or more at a time and equal numbers of section-filaments of the other lamps L L or L -insertedin the circuit'in their place leaving the total number of section filaments in'circuit con'stantfl i As will be seen from the diagrammatic View shown in Fig." 4: as'the rotor It is ro-' tated from, points 1 to 29 the illuminated lamp will gradually merge from clearinto yellow, from yellow into red, from red into blue and from-blue back again to clear and further rotation from Joint 29 to point 44 other section filaments of these lamps are also short circuited;

Dimming or flashing effects are produced fby increasing or decreasing the number of section filaments in the circuit above or below the normal number. A re ulator H is arovided for each lamp L L L and L for raising the contactors D from the drum'D and allowing them to fall back to produce the aforesaid effects. The regulators H are cylindrical and formed with a series of circumferential raised strips k of varying lengths raised above the surface, of the cylinder to lift the conductors D from the drum D as the regulator H is rotated. The regulators H are mounted on a shaft H and are provided with a toothed quadrant engaging worms H each controlled by a knob or dial K K K or K respectively.

In operation by rotating any of the knobs or dials from left to right,.the strips k lower the contact makers D in sequence on to the surface of the rotor D completing the circuit through the required'metal strips d", al (Z and/or 05 and the corresponding filament tappings.

Conversely by rotating the dials from right to left the contact'makers D are raised in sequence.

Flashing is effected by rapidly rotating the rotor D so that the Contact terminals D come'into contact alternately with the metal bars and with the insulated portions of the rotor B.

In another method a square shaft of nonconducting material may be arranged below the contact makers to raise and lower them when desired for'the purpose of obtaining flashing effects.

The shape of the lamps L L L L may be of tubular, bulb or any suitable form and any number of tappings for the section filaterminating in tappings Z ment on can be put in circuitindependently' ments maybe employed but for general purposesand also for illustration, thelamps as indicated in Figs. 8 and 9, also Figs 10-18 are particularly'adaptable. r

' The filament ofthelamp' may be of such specific permeability that it will function either in a vacuum or gas filled lamp and the whole length of filament of one lamp L must be constructed for the line voltage when directly in circuit with any available source of current supply also where very gradual diminishing or establishing effects are required, the filament m must be of such candescence is successively attained.

The lamp shown in Figs; 8to llis ofbulb form the section filaments m being carried on supports m passing through an insulated foot Z hermetically sealed into the bulb and The lampis carried in a lamp holderN each tapping Z being provided with a spring contact device a into which the contactors ID of the conspecific permeability that the maximum inr troll-er are affixed so that each section filaof the others. I

The support N isformed with a triangular locating member n so that when affixed to the lamp it will always assume the correct position in relation thereto. w v

The lamp L shownin Figs. 12 and 13 is of tubular shape the filament being divided up into a series of sections on of equallength each carried on supports lm mounted in an insulated foot m and connected in series. Each support m is hermetically sealed into the'foot m and provided with "a tapping The lamp is carried in a lamp holder-N fee each tapping f being provided with a spring contact device it into which the contacto-rs D of the controller are affixed so that each section filament m can be put in circuit independently of the others.

What I claim as my invention and desire to protect by Letters Patent is 1. Electrical apparatus for stage, scenic advertising and other purposes v 110 obtaining clear and/or colored illuminating effects for comprising a pluralityof multi-contact electric incandescent lamps, a plurality of section filaments connected in series within.

each lamp, a controller, a cylindrical rotor within the controller, a plurality of contact bars insulated from each other let into the lamp,- a controller, cylindrical rotor witht in the controller, a plurality of longitudinal contact bars insulated from each other let into the surface of the rotor, a plurality of contact makers bearing on the surface of the rotor each connected to a contact terminal, means to raise the contact makers out of contact With'the rotor.

3. Electrical apparatus for obtaining clear and/or colored illuminating efiects, for I stage, scenic advertising and other purposes comprising a plurality of multi-contact electric incandescent lamps, a plurality of section filaments connected in series within each lamp, a controller, a cylindrical rotor withinthe controller, a plurality of longitudinal contact bars insulated from each other let into the surface of the rotor, a plurality of contact makers bearing on the surface of the rotor each connected to a contact terminal and a worm and worm wheel to raise and lower the contact makers out of and into contact with the rotor to give flashingvefiects.

4. Electrical apparatus for obtaining clear and/or colored illuminating effects for stage, scenic advertising and other purposes comprising a plurality of multi-contact electric incandescent lamps, a plurality of section filaments connected in series within each lamp, a controller to insert a predetermined number of section filaments in circuit, a cylindrical rotor within the controller, a plurality of longitudinal contact bars insulated from each other let into the surface of the rotor, a pluralityof contact makers bearing on the surface of the rotor each connected to a contact terminal, means to raise the contact makers out of contact with the rotor and means to increase the number of section filaments in the circuit above the predetermined number.

5. Electrical apparatus for obtaining clear and/or colored illuminatingeifects for stage, scenic, advertising and other purposes comprising a plurality of multi-contact electric incandescent lamps, a plurality of section filaments connected in series within each lamp, a plurality of leads one from each contact, a controller, a cylindrical rotor within the controller, a plurality of longitudinal contact barsinsulated from each other let into the surface of the rotor, a plurality of contact makers bearing on the surface of the rotor each connected'to one contact lead to vary the specific filaments in the circuit.

6. Electrical apparatus for obtaining clear and/or colored illuminating effects for stage, scenic, advertising and other purposes comprising a plurality of multi-contact electric incandescent lamps, a plurality of sec- .tion filaments connected in series within each lamp, a plurality offilament supports, a plurality of spring contacts one for each filament support, a plurality of leads one 

